Ocean Friendly Restaurant Spotlight: Parrot Lounge in Fort Lauderdale

Just off Ft. Lauderdale’s idyllic sandy beachfront where snowbirds and locals come to worship our Florida sunshine, you’ll find the World Famous Parrot Lounge. This vintage beach pub is a local institution with a strong community of locals and annual visitors who are faithful patrons.

“It’s been open since 1978 and I’ve been the owner of the Parrot for the last four years,” says Joe. “My kids grew up in the ocean, my son is a lifeguard and we’ve been a part of beach cleanups in the past and I didn’t realize just how bad things were until the last year or so.” Joe’s talking about plastics. He began seeing the impact of plastics on his local beaches but also started learning about how they’re impacting our planet from local newspapers, news media, and online sources. “We took a look at things and we decided to see what we can do to help the environment.” And just like that Joe got in touch with our Broward County Chapter and had his World Famous Parrot Lounge become the first Ocean Friendly Restaurant in Broward.

“I don’t think people realize how easy it is - first of all we just decided we’re not going to have any plastic at all.” Joe is committed to our Ocean Friendly measures, he has found switching to OFR not only has helped him save money but has been a great tool for engaging the community in an important conversation. As for the naysayers and plastic straw purists, Joe hasn’t encountered any resistance; “we explain to them, what we’re doing and I would say 99.9% of the people approve of what we’re doing.”

“We all get together and one little group becomes a big group, and a big group becomes a massive group and make massive changes. We change the way the politicians think, change the ways the corporations are thinking.” Thank you Joe for becoming Ocean Friendly! If you’re in Ft. Lauderdale or Broward come stop by the Parrot Lounge, their drinks are wonderful and their burgers and wings can’t be beat!